Examples of Data Masking Scenarios in SAP BW/4HANA

To illustrate how to implement data masking in SAP BW/4HANA, we will provide some examples of data masking scenarios using the capabilities mentioned above.

Example 1: SAP HANA Data Masking

Suppose you want to mask the customer name in a table ZCUSTOMER that stores customer data in SAP BW/4HANA. To mask the customer name using SAP HANA Data Masking, you can follow these steps:

Open the SAP HANA Database Explorer in SAP BW/4HANA.
Connect to the SAP HANA system that hosts the table ZCUSTOMER.
Right-click on the table ZCUSTOMER and select Open Definition.
In the Columns tab, select the column NAME that contains the customer name.
In the Masking Expression field, enter a masking expression that defines how to mask the customer name. For example, you can enter LEFT(NAME,1) || '*****' to mask all but the first character of the customer name with asterisks.
Save and activate the table definition.
To test the masking effect, open a SQL console and execute a query on the table ZCUSTOMER. For example, you can execute SELECT * FROM ZCUSTOMER; to display all the records in the table.
You will see that the customer name is masked for unprivileged users, but visible for privileged users who have the UNMASKED object privilege for the table ZCUSTOMER.

Example 2: UI Data Protection Masking for SAP S/4HANA

Suppose you want to mask the employee salary in a SAP Fiori application ZEMPLOYEE that displays employee data in SAP BW/4HANA. To mask the employee salary using UI Data Protection Masking for SAP S/4HANA, you can follow these steps:

Open the UI Data Protection Masking Cockpit in SAP BW/4HANA.
Select the UI channel SAPUI5 and click on Create Configuration.
Enter a configuration name and description and click on Next.
Select the application ZEMPLOYEE and click on Next.
Select the field SALARY that contains the employee salary and click on Next.
Select the field-level action Mask and enter a masking pattern that defines how to mask the employee salary. For example, you can enter #### to mask the entire field with hashes.
Click on Finish to save and activate the configuration.
To test the masking effect, open the SAP Fiori application ZEMPLOYEE and display some employee records.
You will see that the employee salary is masked for unprivileged users, but visible for privileged users who have the field-level authorization for the field SALARY.

Example 3: SAP Data Anonymization

Suppose you want to anonymize the customer email in a table ZCUSTOMER that stores customer data in SAP BW/4HANA. To anonymize the customer email using SAP Data Anonymization, you can follow these steps:

Open the Anonymization Cockpit in SAP BW/4HANA.
Click on Create Anonymization Project.
Enter a project name and description and click on Next.
Select the source system and schema that contain the table ZCUSTOMER and click on Next.
Select the table ZCUSTOMER and click on Next.
Select the column EMAIL that contains the customer email and click on Next.
Select the anonymization technique Pseudonymization and enter a pseudonymization expression that defines how to anonymize the customer email. For example, you can enter SUBSTRING(EMAIL,1,2) || '@' || SUBSTRING(EMAIL,LENGTH(EMAIL)-1,2) to replace the middle part of the email with an at sign (@). 8. Click on Finish to save and activate the project. 9. To test the anonymization effect, open a SQL console and execute a query on the table ZCUSTOMER. For example, you can execute SELECT * FROM ZCUSTOMER; to display all the records in the table. 10. You will see that the customer email is anonymized for all users, but still appears realistic and consistent.

Conclusion

In this blog post, we have shown you how to implement data masking in SAP BW/4HANA with examples. We have also explained why data masking is important and what capabilities are available in SAP BW/4HANA and SAP HANA to implement data masking. We hope that this blog post has helped you to understand how to implement data masking in SAP BW/4HANA and how to use it for data privacy, security and analysis.

Disclaimer: This content is generated by AI.